Henk Brinkhuis plays a leading role in international seabed research. He has conducted pioneering research on algae fossils, which offer a record of historical climate change. His trailblazing study of extreme climate change – for example the greenhouse gas build-up of 50 million years ago – has informed our understanding of future global warming.

Brinkhuis understood the importance of the Poles for our climate system. His expeditions produced astonishing evidence of subtropical conditions in the Arctic at various periods.